Your Average Bear

Your Average Bear is a stealth comedy game in which you play as a black bear stealing food from humans and delivering them to animals with the use of the food delivery app ‘UBearEats’. Become the sneakiest bear in The Average National Park — Accept delivery orders from your fellow animals, collect the food with the help of various tools, and hand them off without getting caught!

Your Average Bear is being developed in the University of Utah’s 2022-2023 EAE Program Capstone classes and is currently available on Steam and itch.io. Additionally, Your Average Bear has been discussed by publications such as Polygon and PC Gamer.

EAE Launch (Full Release)

Poster by Maddie Chernosky

Trailer

EAE Play (Showcased Beta Build)

Trailer

Gameplay Footage

Development Information

Primary Team Size: 25 (2 Producers, 10 Artists, 7 Engineers, 5 Designers, and 1 Technical Artist; Most developers became involved in multiple disciplines, regardless of what their primary discipline was)

Additional Developers: 3 (2 students from the Berklee College of Music; 1 Freshman University of Utah College of Engineering Scholar)

Development Period: October 2022-May 2023

Engine: Unreal Engine 5

Platform: PC

Roles - Producer

Responsibilities

  • Establishing, preparing for, and leading tri-weekly group-wide meetings (Tues., Thurs., & Sat.) in conjunction with co-producers, as well as discipline/team-specific weekly meetings.

  • Taking notes during all attended meetings as well as recording meetings for future use.

  • Utilizing meeting notes, meeting recordings, text communication, and verbal communication to create, delete, and edit Jira tasks, bugs, and epics as needed.

  • Organizing and updating all non-perforce document-sharing platforms and communication servers to prevent confusion for both developers and non-developers who need to navigate said platforms.

  • Working with co-developers to create timelines, group milestones, and discipline/team-specific goals, as well as update and adjust said timelines, milestones, and goals as needed.

  • Collecting team input to create a Social Contract Document, serving as a written guideline of expected norms to assist in creating a more transparent, communicative, and friendly team atmosphere in which all developers feel safe, accepted, and respected regardless of who they are.

  • Establishing all required business documents and handling all tasks required for the formal publishing of the game, including Studio LLC organization, business-related bank accounts, and Steamworks setup to allow co-developers to focus on the game rather than worry about publishing-related tasks.

  • Serving as a mediator/communication point for any conflicts/issues encountered by the team requiring such a role, assisting in finding mutually beneficial results and compromises.

  • Assisting in account creation and service onboarding for Jira, as well as the game’s utilized social media platforms.

  • Compiling archives of all major work done for the game within a certain period, overseeing any tasks related to such compilation, and submitting them for review as needed.

Software/Tools Utilized

  • Jira

  • Perforce

  • Unreal Engine 5

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2019

  • Google Applications (Drive, Docs, Forms, Sheets, Slides, & Gmail)

  • Discord/Zoom

  • Streamlabs

  • Steamworks

Roles - Main Researcher

(Note: UR & QA responsibilities were concurrent during the planning and analysis stages, and often overlapped in execution for the sake of efficiency)

Responsibilities

  • Hosting and moderating bi-weekly playtests with a fellow capstone team (referred to as a sister studio), utilizing

    • Focus Groups

    • Thinkaloud Studies

    • & Surveys

  • Working with co-developers to analyze current build progress and collect relevant topics, mechanics, and subjects of which testing would be beneficial

  • Creating test cases plans based on decided-upon topics, allowing for flexibility while also ensuring as many subjects would be touched upon as possible without the risk of overwhelming participants

  • Recruiting co-developers to assist in the facilitating of playtests as needed to ensure any and all asked questions could be answered thoroughly, as well as players to test the sister studio’s provided build

  • Creating brief-yet-thorough surveys for testers to fill out post-test, allowing them the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback they may not have felt comfortable stating verbally

  • Recording all playtests with player consent for future use

  • Utilizing recordings and feedback forms to create thorough notes of each individual participants test, as well as providing a single-page summation of all bugs found, feedback is given, and ideas/subjects for the team to consider as development continued for ease of access

  • Created relevant bug tickets and tasks on Jira to accompany playtest notes

Software/Tools Utilized

  • Jira

  • Discord/Zoom

  • Google Applications (Drive, Docs, Forms, & Sheets)

  • Streamlabs

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